The drive from Sinamatella to Ivory Lodge through Hwange was a ral taste of Africa. 130 km over 5 hours on dirt roads with only 3 other vehicles seen all day. The changing scenery as you traverse the park provides a very diverse range of environments in which to test your game spotting skills and the various stopping places we found invariably have a view across some waterhole or pan most of which provided excellent opportunities for game spotting. We saw a wide variety of wildlife as we passed through the park, everything from giraffes and hippos (with babies) to the riveting sight of a wildebeest checking out a large crocodile on the edge of a waterhole. For a day spent mostly driving from one place to another this was a startlingly good day and at the end of the drive, Ivory Lodge.
The luxury of Ivory Lodge provided a wonderful contrast to the simple self catering of Sinamatella. All of the accommodation was raised above ground some 10 - 12 feet and looked out across the waterhole. Deb and Amy had a head on view as it were and Travis and I had a side view of the same. The lodge also had a viewing hide at the edge of the site which provided an excellent close up view of the animals but more about that later.
